The Ones that Got Away: Checking in on Two of Indiana’s Recent Departures

Hindsight can be a cruel beast sometimes and every basketball fan has felt the sting of it at some stage.

Trading and signing players has never been an easy task for managers and trying to make the correct decisions can be both hugely rewarding and extremely frustrating. Sometimes a move works out and other times it doesn’t, it’s as simple as that. Let’s take a look at some of the recent departures from the Pacers and see how things turned out for both of the organizations involved.

Paul George – Oklahoma City Thunder

George is the obvious player to start with, after there was so much controversy surrounding his exit. But let’s not get hung up on the past and focus more on how the deal has worked out for the teams. When the trade went through for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis it did seem as though Indiana was getting a little short changed in terms of trade value.

But what a trade it has turned out to be, with Sabonis progessing much faster than expected and Oladipo suddenly turning into a bonafide superstar, even reaching All-Star status on Team LeBron’s bench. Considering how little leverage they had during negotiations it has been an amazing piece of business from the Pacers and is so far paying off dividends. Since the duo has arrived, Indiana are looking like a team that can not only make the playoffs, but possibly cause a few upsets at the same time. They are even a solid long shot to win the championship at +9000, with some bettors using free bets from Champion Bets to get behind their team while minimizing their potential for risk.

So how has George settled in to his new home at the Thunder? Well if you look at his numbers it appears as though he has slowed down a little offensively, however, he does now share the court with Russell Westbrook who is going to steal a little limelight from anyone. Although his points average has gone down from 23.7 to 22.4, he’s taking more three-pointers and boosted his percentage from .393 up to an impressive .427.

It’s hard to judge who got the better deal on this trade, but considering how things ended up going with George, the Pacers have got to be ecstatic with the overall outcome of the trade.

C.J. Miles – Toronto Raptors

Miles was always a fan favorite during his time with the Pacers. Fortunately for C.J. he has slotted in perfectly at the Raptors and even though he is getting less minutes, his averages haven’t taken that big a hit. He still maintains a 3-point percentage of .388, just slightly down from the .413 he held in 2016-17 with the Pacers.

After 3 years of terrific service for the team, he must have assumed that Indiana was going to take good care of him. Unfortunately, the Pacers weren’t too keen to shell out the big bucks which ultimately led to his exit. The good thing for the club was that Miles’ replacement Bojan Bogdanovic has proved to be a more than adequate replacement and the offense hasn’t suffered too much at all.

They way these trades turned out definitely seemed to have favored the Pacers. Both have turned out to be shrewd business decisions that have put Indiana in a much better position this season.